■ Earthquake
No damage from tremor
An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale rocked the nation yesterday, seismologists said. There were no early reports of damage or casualties. The tremor struck at 6:55am and its epicenter was 23.4km east of Taitung, the Seismology Center said. The tremor originated 88.8km below sea level, it said.
■ Typhoon
Rains ease drought
Typhoon Maemi brought bountiful rainfall to Shihmen and Feitsui reservoirs, the main sources of water in northern Taiwan, in the past two days. Shihmen Reservoir received 154.8mm and Feitsui Reservoir received 197.3 mm of rainfall and their water levels have risen to 222m and 137.98m, respectively. Both reservoirs now hold more than their minimum low limits. Kang Shih-fang, Feitsui Reservoir administrator, said the rainfall has greatly relieved the drought condition in the north. He said he is optimistic about water supply to the area later this year, because it may rain from time to time this month and next because this is the annual rainy season.
■ Trade
Russian trip a success
A trade delegation led by Democratic Progressive Party Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) has made a successful visit to Russia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday. They said that the 35-member delegation gained substantive results on the promotion of loan financing for Taiwanese and Russian businesses, and the purchase of fertilizer and petroleum. They said the main purpose of the trip was to attend the Taiwan-Russia Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum held Tuesday in Moscow, which was attended by some 200 representatives from Russian organizations and private companies.
■ Freight
Kaohsiung port ups security
Authorities at the port of Kaohsiung heightened their vigilance yesterday, the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, although most people were busy celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. Officials at Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau said they increased patrols at harbor facilities and tightened security inspections of cargo and containers yesterday. They said Kaohsiung has become one of the world's most important container harbors. Approximately 1 million containers are shipped to the US from Kaohsiung each year. Customs officials of the two countries have stepped up their cooperation in inspecting US-bound cargo at Kaohsiung, they said.
■ Horticulture
Orchid plan floated
The Council of Agriculture said yesterday it would implement a verification system on butterfly orchids based on the model of the EU's plant passport system by the end of this year to promote its exports. Officials from the council's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said that after Taiwan entered the WTO, it has actively promoted its flower exports. But the officials said that flower exports rely heavily on speedy customs clearance. To overcome this problem, they are thinking of a two-pronged approach: establish the verification system for healthy seedlings and the prevention of pests so that the flowers will have higher quality and to establish a better international competitive edge. Butterfly orchids are the mainstay of Taiwan's flower exports.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods